Staff Directory

Staff Directory and Bios

The NCJA staff has a wealth of experience in providing assistance to federal, state, local and tribal justice agencies to identify barriers and develop strategies to increase the effectiveness of criminal justice agencies and programs. Staff bios and contact information can be found below. To reach the main office, please call (202) 628-8550 or email info@ncja.org.

Chris Asplen, Executive Director

Chris Asplen has served as Executive Director of the NCJA since January, 2016. He is a former prosecutor, Asplen is a national and international expert on the use of DNA technologies. Previously, he served as Director of the DNA Legal Assistance Unit for the American Prosecutor’s Research Institute and the National District Attorney’s Association, as an Assistant United States Attorney and as the Executive Director of the National Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence for the U.S. Department of Justice. In private practice, Asplen has advocated for policy and legislative initiatives integrating DNA technology, including post-conviction DNA, into criminal justice systems around the world. He has worked with governments and law enforcement agencies in 35 countries to implement DNA technology to maximize its ability to identify and convict the guilty while protecting the innocent. A noted national and international speaker he has testified before the U.S. Congress, the South African and Philippine Parliaments and has appeared on, and written for, numerous news outlets. He also serves as a consultant to the U.S. Department of State and the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism on the prosecution of nuclear terrorism crimes.

Linda White-Ballou, Accountant

Linda White-Ballou has been the Accountant for the National Criminal Justice Association since July 2016. She received both her Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and a Masters degree in Finance from the University of Maryland. Linda is a seasoned professional with over thirty-five years of experience in financial management, budgeting and accounting in the non-profit industry.

Bethany Broida, Director of Communications

Bethany Broida develops and implements communications strategy for the association. She serves as Editor-in-Chief for the association’s newsletters and develops content for the association website. She also oversees the planning for NCJA's annual conference, runs the Outstanding Criminal Justice Program Awards and supervises NCJA's internship program for college students.

Prior to joining the NCJA, Bethany was a reporter at the Legal Times in Washington, D.C. She has also written about criminal justice and education issues for a variety of other publications including the Baltimore Sun, the Maryland Daily Record, the Chronicle of Higher Education and the Capital News Service. She also served as a writer/editor and communications manager for the National School Supply and Equipment Association.

Bethany received her Bachelors degree in magazine journalism from Boston University and her masters in journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Amanda Coscia, Program Analyst

Amanda primarily supports our efforts to deliver training and technical assistance to state administering agencies on strategic planning and the implementation of evidence-based program and practices. She also interviews justice policymakers and practitioners to gather information concerning policy and practices, assisting with federal grant performance and data reporting, and making recommendations to address issues or opportunities identified through the research. Coscia is a former NCJA intern and recent graduate of Emerson College.

Bob Greeves, Senior Policy Adviser

Bob Greeves joined NCJA in 2014 following his retirement from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), where he served as a policy advisor on matters concerning the integration of local, state, tribal, federal and national justice information systems and networks, as well as the sharing of information among those domains. He was responsible for advising BJA leadership concerning strategic concepts associated with the Justice Information Sharing Initiative and the Attorney General’s Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative. In addition, he advised program officials concerning strategies for discretionary grant making that leverages information technology in the pursuit of law enforcement, justice, public safety and homeland security objectives and outcomes.

Mr. Greeves was also the architect for creation of the Global Justice XML Data Model that became the premier standard for sharing government information and was adopted by over 200 organizations in the law enforcement, justice, public safety, homeland security and intelligence communities and became the baseline for the National Information Exchange Model. He spearheaded efforts to develop privacy policy guidelines for state and local criminal justice organizations as well as to identify technology solutions for aiding the implementation of privacy policies. He also participated in the development of the National Sex Offender Public Registry.

Deb Matteucci, Project Manager

Deb oversees our training and technical assistance program for state administering agencies on strategic planning and the implementation of evidence-based policies and practices.

Prior to joining NCJA, Deb was the executive director of the Montana Board of Crime Control, the state's designated criminal justice planning entity and state administering agency. She also served as Western Regional Chair and a member of the NCJA Board of Directors and Advisory Council. Previously, she served as chief of the Adult Mental Health Services Bureau, Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS ) where she was responsible for the planning, development, oversight and funding of community based mental health services for adults across Montana. She also worked six years as Montana's first Behavioral Health Program Facilitator, a boundary spanner between the Department of Corrections and DPHHS improving coordination of services for offenders with serious mental illness.

Elizabeth Pyke, Director of Government Affairs

Elizabeth carries NCJA members’ policy and funding priorities to Capitol Hill and Executive branch agencies. She also works closely with the other state, local and issue advocacy groups in Washington, DC in coalition on state and local criminal justice issues.

For nearly a decade prior to joining NCJA, Elizabeth worked for three governors in their federal relations offices in Washington, DC. Most recently, she served as the Senior Advisor for Federal Relations in the Iowa Office of State-Federal Relations for Governor Tom Vilsack, managing a portfolio of policy issues that included criminal justice, homeland security, natural resources, agriculture and overall appropriations strategy. Prior to that, Elizabeth served as the Director of Federal Relations for Maryland Governor Parris Glendening, coordinating the State’s federal policy and funding priorities and managed the Governor’s responsibilities as chair of the National Governors Association and as president of the Council of State Governments. Elizabeth began her service to governors as Policy Director for Economic Development in the Texas Office of State-Federal Relations during Governor Ann Richards’ administration, with emphasis on the North American Free Trade Agreement, U.S.-Mexico border issues and continued funding for the space station. Elizabeth also spent four years as a Legislative Consultant with the law firm of Verner Liipfert Bernhard McPherson and Hand, representing a variety of public and private sector clients on Capitol Hill.

Elizabeth received her B.A. in Political Science from Wellesley College, and her M.Phil. in International Relations from the University of Cambridge (England). She is a graduate of the 1994 Leadership America class, and is an active member of various volunteer organizations.

Janene Scelza, Web Manager

Janene oversees the content and function of the NCJA website and partner websites websites, and manages the Connect2Grants funding library. She also provides technical support and data analysis for NCJA research projects.

Prior to joining NCJA, Janene provided research, communications and technical support to a variety of nonprofits, including the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, the Center for Social Media at American University, and the Center for Social Justice at Georgetown University. Most recently, she was a research associate at the American Sociological Association, assisting with a number of studies on the sociological discipline and profession.

Janene received her Bachelors degree from the University of Central Florida and her Masters degree from Georgetown University.

David Steingraber, Senior Policy Adviser

Previously, he served as Executive Director of the Wisconsin Office of Justice Assistance, a position to which he was appointed by Governor Jim Doyle in 2003 and served until 2011. The Office was responsible for strategic planning, program development, technical assistance and grant administration for a variety of state and federal programs related to criminal justice, public safety and homeland security.

David was also the Administrator of the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Division of Law Enforcement Services (1995 to 2003), Chief of Police in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin (1980 to 1995) and Chief of Police in Middleton, Wisconsin (1975 to 1980). He is a life member and past president of the Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association and a life member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

David is a past president of the NCJA, and has served on that organization’s Board of Directors. He is an at-large member of SEARCH, the national consortium for criminal justice information and statistics and serves on that organization’s Board of Directors. He represented the National Governor’s Association on the US Department of Justice GLOBAL (Justice Information Sharing Initiative) Advisory Committee and served as a member of that organization’s Executive Steering Committee between 2008 and 2012.

Tammy Woodhams, Project Manager

Tammy promotes, coordinates, facilitates, and delivers "train-the-trainer" community based strategic planning sessions designed to enhance justice planning and build capacity of State Administrative Agencies and Tribal governments across the US. She assists in curriculum development, research and identification of model strategies, establishment of virtual communication tools, and creation of an information clearinghouse.

Working closely with NCJA senior staff, Tammy serves as liaison to BJA, state and local agency representatives. She also is the principal staff assisting the Justice Information Sharing Practitioners (JISP) in managing their activities, policy initiatives, and periodic meetings.

For more than 25 years, Tammy has in various positions within Kalamazoo County Government including serving as Executive Director for the Kalamazoo Criminal Justice Council and Community Corrections Director of the local Office of Community Corrections. In these positions she led the implementation of multi-disciplinary collaborative criminal justice projects and oversaw the implementation and expansion of eleven alternative programs including the nation’s first drug court for women offenders and Project RETURN (Reentry of Ex-Offenders Through Unique Resource Networking.) She further assisted in the development and implementation Kalamazoo County’s Integrated Criminal Justice Management Information System Plan.

Tammy received her Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice and Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Western Michigan University.